Our free ebooks may be read on a computer or mobile device using a
web browser or by using free or low cost e-reader software. Refer
to our HELP
file for more information. All books are in the 'public domain' in
Australia and all have been prepared by volunteers

BROWSE
our list of free ebooks

Browse all our FREE EBOOKS in AUTHOR order. Most are exclusive to
this site. Over 4,000 titles to choose from!

Dictionary of Australian Biography. Biographies of
more than 1000 people prominent in the development of Australia;
explorers, artists, politicians, scientists, etc. All died before
the end of 1942. An online free ebook.

Australian Discovery. The
first authenticated landing on Australian soil occurred in 1606. In
2006 Australians celebrated the 400th anniversary of the event.
This page covers the period from 1606-1770. Many free ebooks.

Australian Explorers. A
chronology of Australian exploration with links to relevant free
ebooks, together with an extensive list of Australian explorers and
their biographies.

SPECIAL INTEREST
free ebooks

Pioneers at Peace: The Story of St John's Cemetery, Gordon
by Jill Lyons provides a history of St John's Church and Cemetery at Gordon, on
Sydney's Upper North Shore. It also provides interesting information about
burial customs over the years and gives biographical details of many of thos
whose final resting place is St John's. Accompanying this book is a complete record of all of those
buried at St John's Cemetery Gordon, including photographs of the monuments. The
sesquicentenary of the cemetery occured in 2017.

Dr. Widger's Library. Dr David Widger has submitted
numerous ebooks to Project Gutenberg in the US. They are all listed
here, with links to enable them to be download from PG. Check out
"Widger's Quotations", memorable quotes gleaned from the texts
themselves.

Bestsellers. A list
of the top ten bestselling books in both fiction and non-fiction
categories for the years 1923 through 1953. Many are available from
this site as free ebooks and links are provided. Read a bestselling
book today!

ebook readers

Ebooks are digitised versions of paper books. That is to say,
they are computer files. The ebooks available from Project
Gutenberg Australia, all of which are free of charge, are usually
provided in 'txt' or 'html' format and can be read on any personal
computer or laptop, using a text editor such as Notepad,
which comes bundled with every copy of Microsoft Windows, or
with a web browser such as Internet Explorer or
Firefox. However, when this basic method is used to read
ebooks one is not able to bookmark pages for future reference or
jump to a particular chapter from the Table of Contents.

These shortcomings, have been overcome by the development of
software specifically designed to read ebooks on personal computers
and laptops. Good examples are Tom's eTextReader from
Fellnersoft and yBook and yRead from Spacejock
Software. This software boasts many features to make the experience
of reading ebooks more rewarding. The yRead software will
even read the book back to you, using a synthesised voice. You want
more, I hear you say. Well, both offerings are free of charge and
can be downloaded directly from the internet. Microsoft
Reader software, for both PC an PocketPC is also very popular.
The meaning of words can be looked up in a dictionary, and
bookmarks can be added. Check out the Microsoft Reader site. Go to
the Download page for free downloads. There is more information on
this subject on our help page.

Of course, books are not usually read while one is sitting in
front of a computer. We want to be able to carry them with us and
read them while sitting on a train, or while resting in an easy
chair or at the beach. This need for mobility precipitated the
development of proprietary ebook reading devices (ereaders). Such
devices have been around for quite a few years now, with varying
degrees of success. Recently we have seen the release of several
new offerings, including the Sony Reader and the Amazon
Kindle. The iRex iLiad, iRex DR1000S, HanLin and
Cybook are ebook readers which are also available in
Australia, at the time of writing this article.

The software available for use with these devices often allows
for ebook files to be converted into a format which makes the
ebooks easier to read on a particular device. The 'epub'
format, a free and open standard set by the International Digital
Publishing Forum (IDPF), may, in time, become a universal standard
for ebook publishing so that ebooks published in epub format can be
read on any ereader.

Many people use a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a tablet
or mobile phone, such as the iPhone, to read ebooks. One
usually needs to convert the basic text file or html file, which
comprises the ebook, into a file format more suitable for display
on the device's screen. Calibre software was specifically
developed for just this purpose and may be downloaded from the
Calibre web site, free of
charge.

The HTML format is used universally on web sites to display
content. Many of the ebooks available from Project Gutenberg
Australia are provided in html format. By using this format, it is
possible to display images in the ebooks and to provide a Table of
Contents from which users can jump to the start of any chapter in
the ebook. The use of coloured text and different printer fonts can
also be used to enhance the appearance, readability and utility of
the ebook. Some of the software and devices mentioned above support
html files, however images which are displayed in the html files
often cannot be seen on those devices. There is more information on
this subject on our help page.

This article is intended to provide practical information for
people who want to enjoy reading ebooks. Should you require further
information please refer to our Help file
which provides information on reading, downloading and converting
our ebooks.You may also contact
us. We will certainly help you if we can.